SRA lends helping hand to victims of Hurricane Harvey

When Hurricane Harvey hit, everyone felt helpless watching the events unfold on TV. Many of us have family or friends in Texas and we were gripped with fear and sadness at the devastation and destruction we were witnessing.

Santa Rosa Academy (SRA), a public charter school in Menifee that serves more than 100 Canyon Lake students, decided to do something to help.

“The decision was made by the school to do what we could to assist,” said Santa Rosa Academy Executive Director Laura Badillo whose own family has been impacted by the hurricane. “It’s a great way for our students to serve the community and demonstrate the great character traits they possess.”

Santa Rosa Academy Executive Director Laura Badillo prepares to travel to Texas to deliver donations to those impacted by hurricane Harvey. Photo Provided by Laura Badillo

The school sent out an email to the families of Santa Rosa Academy to let them know that Laura and her husband would be personally delivering donations to Texas at the end of the week. Donations of clothes, diapers, formula and gift cards poured in over the next few days. Boy Scouts Troup 444 donated a covered trailer for the trip.

Before leaving on Saturday, Laura received a call about a need for six families with infants on dialysis who were flown to Texas Children’s Hospital by military Black Hawk helicopters. The families of those infants were going to need to be housed during the treatment due to the relocation. Target pitched in to help. “A huge thank you to the Target in Menifee for donating $300 so we could buy supplies for the families of the infant dialysis patients at Texas Children’s hospital,” said Laura.

On Friday, the staff and students spent five hours packing the donation into a truck and 17-foot trailer for the journey to Texas. “It reaffirms my belief that the world is good and everyone can come together to help,” said Canyon Laker Brian Bock whose son Sam is a student at the school and helped with the collections.

On a personal note, it brings me so much joy to watch this school come to the aid of others. My children have attended Santa Rosa Academy since 2011 and I’ve watched time and time again Santa Rosa Academy come to the aid of one of its own. To watch our children and staff pull together and dig deep into their closets and pockets to help people that they do not know is what it is all about. This is the type of character we hope to instill in our children. It felt so good to watch everyone pull together and do what they could to help during such a tragic time. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Badillo for traveling to Texas with all of the donations. God bless and safe travels.

Photo Provided by Laura Badillo

Santa Rosa Academy students Trevor McConnaughey, left, and Sam Bock collect money and gift cards for those impacted by hurricane Harvey. Photo Provided by Laura Badillo




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